I hardly wear any tank tops or any of those sleeveless fashions, well because I have fat, flabby arms. In short, they make me look even fatter than I am. All I need is to concentrate more on arm and shoulder exercise to get those toned muscles. I have an eight pound dumbbell at home where I continue my arm exercises if I am not at the gym.

Helping me out is this 10-minute workout from celeb trainer Holly Perkins. The exercises target the upper body to create shapey shoulders. Here it is.

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Transcript

These killer arm moves from celebrity trainer and pro max trainer Holly Perkins are sure to get your gorgeous arms in no time. So get your three to 8 pound weights and join us for this ten minute classic Sugar workout. I want you guys to challenge yourself by picking up a slightly heavy dumbbell. 3, 5, or 8 pound dumbbells work great for this workout. Now remember, because we’re doing these moves for a full minute, it’s technically impossible to bulk up, so pick up heavy weights and don’t worry about it, you are going to get great toned arms. Shall we? Yes.

This first exercise is one of my favorites, you are going to turn your palms out about forty five degrees, and it is a basic bicep curl. The secret here is that the arms are turned out 45 degrees, so that you really hit the arms the way we like. And the emphasis on the short edge of the biceps, really just creates that curved look, that looks really good in a t-shirt. Yep, this is the move that ladies really like because it focuses on the front of the arm. You’ll feel it here in a moment. Remember, we’re doing this for a full minute I want you to keep your shoulders relaxed, and I want you to mentally really think about squeezing your biceps. Don’t just go through the moves. OK. Really make it mental activate the front of the arms and you’re going to get more from this workout. That’s a really good point, really good point. Mindfulness increases the effectiveness of whatever you’re doing. Yep, it really so think about it. Squeeze those biceps and remember challenge yourself because that’s whats gonna tone up those muscles. Lets do three more, here’s one two, one more and we’re gonna move on to our next exercise.

Okay, bring your arms up so they’re about parallel to the ground, arms extended. It’s a biceps it’s a curl coming in, but again keep those upper arms parallel to the floor. Your going to get some shoulder work here while you also hit those arms. Good, really squeeze through the biceps, keep your abs tight, stand tall. How does that feel? It’s amazing, I love it. so we are using five pounds and three pounds. On this exercise you are definitively going to get a good work out. If you are advanced try an eight pound dumbbell here. Good. Keep those abs tight. Keep that mind involved. Squeeze those biceps. Keep the upper arm Parallel to the ground. Take a look. You don’t want those elbows to drop too much. OK. Squeeze it in. OK. Give me three more. Here we go. There’s one. Keep breathing. Two. One more. And relax. Dumbbells Come down in front, palms toward you. This is important. Keep your dumbbells together at the bottom. We’re going to come into a wide upright row and bring them back down narrow. and repeat, elbows nice and high. Good. This focuses on the shoulder. Now, what I like about this, which is different than a traditional upright row as it De-emphases the top of the neck and the shoulders, your trapezius and it puts the work on the wider part of your shoulders. all arm workouts, so enjoy this one. You’re targeting a variety of muscles all at once. Really working on rounding out that shoulder, and you’re going to feel it. OK? Again, use your mind and try to keep those elbows up. Okay. Dumbbells are kind of wide at the top, but elbows high, and keep your neck relaxed. Are you feeling it? I’m feeling it. Yeah.. What about you? Feeling it. Good, okay, two more. One more. And relax. I just want you to relax for a couple of seconds while I explain this next exercise. This one is a real challenge but this is what’s going to change your arms.

We’re going to do an symmetric hold in a dumbbell side range. So we are going to take our dumbbells out to the sides, and we are going to hold. Now, this is challenging. We’re here for a minute, but I promise you that if you can hang in there, your arms are going to change. Now, if it gets too intense I want you to bend your elbows, and just keep bending your elbows until you find a position that is comfortable, because this is challenging. Okay, right. Try to keep that emphasis on the outer part of the shoulders. OK? Breathe and hold. Stay strong. You’re more capable than you know. and if you are shaking that is a good thing. You are using those small muscles fibers that are really those small guys that you can not get to easily. Yes, keep holding and just bend in slightly as you start to get tired. all will be bending in here in a couple seconds. Good hold it, hold it. Now if you have eight pound dumbells you’re probably going to start in a bend position. And hold, couple seconds! and relax down. That’s great. Really good. So we go back to the top and back to that forty five degree bicep girls, here we go. Curl it up. Now, remember what we talked about, use your mind. Mm-hm. Squeeze those biceps, ‘k? Good. Arms are opened outward at about 45 degrees and the palms always stay face up, which is called a supinated grip. And it really helps here to just focus on your core. Big time, because this is also an ab exercise, simply by focusing on your core you get a workout. Stand super tall. If you think about having a long tall spine, specifically, a long tall spine you’re going to engage use your abs, and you’re going to get that workout here, too. Good. Now, if this is easy, put these dumbbells down and pick up a heavier set. You should be feeling pretty burnt out by this point. You should be feeling it. You should feel some warmth, maybe a little bit of burning. Maybe a little bit, but you should be feeling like you are using those biceps. Okay let’s do three more. Here’s one and two and relax.

Moving on to the horizontal bicep curl, keeping those arms up. You’re ready? Here we go. I love this. It’s a good one. And now, remember, sometimes when exercises get challenging, your brain is going to tell you that you need to stop. But the truth is you’re capable of more than that. It’s a protective mechanism by our brains to make things easy on us. Right. But if you want your arms to look nice it’s not going to be easy. Yes. You just change the lens with which you view the situation. Right. Absolutely. Keep those eyes and arms up. Yep. Stay in the positive, that this will work is what is going to change the outline of your arms. Good, keep those elbows nice and high. keep thinking about those biceps. Good, okay, three more. Here’s one, two, one more four and relax.

Elbows end to end touch we are going to go into that wide upright row. Here we go, elbows high, squeeze through the outer rounding of your shoulder, squeeze on the dumbbells. This is a little secret. If you squeeze your dumbbells with a firm grip, you activate the muscles in your shoulders better pretty cool huh? Yes. So if you are working on your shoulders, squeeze those dumbbells so you get the most out of every repetition. Nice and wide, so those dumbbells are going to end pretty much in front of your shoulders, but they come back down together, narrow in the front, elbows high. do not forget to breath.Really important, Yes It is easy to do. Breath through it. Good that was nice and high. abs tight, how we feeling? Feeling great, feel the burn! Three more, here’s one, Two, one more, and relax. OK, so we’re going down to the ground. Let’s place our dumbbells down.

We’re coming down into a tricep push up. So, everyone’s on their knees hands are a little narrower than a traditional push-up, I want you to bring your hips forwards so there is a straight line from your knees out through your head. Don’t bend at your hips. Now from here it’s a traditional push up. Let those elbows go out to the side. Ready? OK. Take it out and we got a here, so again, if you can do this with me for a minute, even if you take some breaks, there’s no way your arms are going to bulk up. You’re gonna get nice and toned. Now, another little secret I’ve got lots of secrets today. The longer your arms, the harder this is. You’ve got these super long arms. and so you can just imagine, longer arms means you’re covering a greater distance. Right. It’s harder on your muscles. So, if you need to take a break, that’s fine. take a few seconds break, and then join us when you are ready. Perfect. Okay. Stay strong, what you are going to do is a few more here. Perfect. Three more. Here’s one, here’s two. One more. And relax.

So we’re going to move on we are picking up one dumbbell and coming to our backs. This is an exercise where that heavier dumbbell works really great. Now, take the dumbbell directly up over your chest. I want your shoulders away from your ears and your elbows fully locked. Now take the dumbbell up over your head keeping your elbows locked. Bring it back to your starting position. squeeze. Over the head and chest. Great job! So, I want you to really try to lock out those elbows so that we put the emphasis on the triceps. Keep those abs tight, let those arms go way up over the head. Squeeze the triceps by keeping the elbows nice and straight. Now, if you have a couple of sets of dumbbells, this is a place where you could just bring in an 8 or a 10 pound dumbbell, even if you didn’t use them earlier in the workout. And I almost feel my core working, too. Yep, absolutely, you’re right. Yes, if you really stabilize through your core again you are going to get a secondary workout through the abs. ears, do you feel your triceps working? Definitely do. Good, good, good, good. Yep. Okay, let’s do three more. There’s one, two One more, and last one. Great, and relax. Beautiful. And that’s it. Let’s sit up. You can just put that dumbbell aside. Good job ladies! Fantastic! Great job! What a workout, I can really feel this in my full arm and even in my core. Good. Thanks for working out with us today. Be sure to combine our other videos with Holly for a full work out on Fit Sugar TV. See you next time.

About the editor

I’m Noemi Lardizabal-Dado, a 56 year old mom, blogger, a homemaker, social media consultant, emerging media editor (Features) of the Philippine Online Chronicles, involved in advocacy and family recovery groups.